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Mars Base

Potent antibodies neutralize HIV and could offer new therapy, study finds - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...es-neutralize-hiv-therapy.html

scibyte72 HIV

shared by Mars Base on 14 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Michel Nussenzweig's Laboratory of Molecular Immunology found that a combination of five different antibodies
  • effectively suppressed HIV-1 replication and kept the virus at bay for a 60 day period after termination of therapy
  • longer half-life
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • current antiretroviral drugs require daily intake.
  • These especially potent antibodies were only recently discovered
  • identified and cloned from HIV-infected patients whose immune systems showed an unusually high ability to neutralize HIV
  • Antibodies had been written off as a treatment for HIV/AIDS because previous studies showed only a limited effect on controlling the virus
  • before these more potent antibodies were discovered
  • HIV-1 is notorious for evading the immune system's attacks by constantly mutating
  • antibodies target HIV-1's surface protein gp160, a large molecule that forms a spike that seeks out host cells and attaches to them
  • One antibody alone wasn't enough to quell the virus; neither was a mix of three
  • five of them in unison proved too complicated for gp160 to mutate its way out of.
  • Although HIV-1 infection in humanized mice differs in many important aspects from infection in humans, the results are encouraging to investigate these antibodies in clinical trials
  • It also may be that a combination of antibodies and the already established antiretroviral therapy is more efficacious than either alone
  • could be used as a treatment one day, it is conceivable that patients would only need to take traditional drugs until the virus is controlled
  • then receive antibodies every two to three months to maintain that control
Mars Base

Astronomers find 'homeless' planet wandering through space - 0 views

phys.org/...ers-homeless-planet-space.html

scibyte72 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 14 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Over the past few years, several objects of this type have been identified, but their existence could not be established without scientific confirmation of their age
  • appears to be part of a group of very young stars known as the AB Doradus Moving Group
  • This group is unique in that it is made up of around thirty starts that all have the same age, have the same composition and that move together through space
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • the link between the planet and AB Doradus that enabled us to deduce its age and classify it as a planet
  • the researchers obtained a series of infrared images
  • to deduce its mass, its temperature, and of particular note, its age
  • found to be between 50 and 120 millions years old, with a temperature of approximately 400 degrees celsius, and a mass four to seven times that of Jupiter
  • Objects more than 13 times the mass of Jupiter are not considered to be planets but rather Brown dwarfs, as it is this is the minimum amount of mass required for the deuterium at the heart of a star to achieve fusion
  • This object was discovered during a scan that covered the equivalent of 1000 times the surface of the full moon
  • observed hundreds of millions of stars and planets, but we only found one homeless planet in our neighbourhood
Mars Base

'Orphan' Alien Planet Found Nearby Without Parent Star | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ue-alien-planet-discovery.html

scibyte72 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 14 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • The free-floating object
  • is likely a gas giant planet four to seven times more massive than Jupiter,
  • Astronomers have discovered a potential "rogue" alien planet wandering alone just 100 light-years from Earth
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • And if the discovery team is right about CFBDSIR2149's age, the body is likely a planet, with an average temperature of 806 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius), researchers said
  • There's still a slight chance that CFBDSIR2149 is a brown dwarf 
  • Additional observations should help decide the matter.
  • With a good distance measurement and a more accurate proper motion, we will be able to increase (or decrease) the probability that it is indeed a planet
  • One 2011 study, for example, estimated that rogue worlds outnumber "normal" planets with obvious host stars by at least 50 percent throughout the Milky Way
  • The discovery of a starless alien planet would not be shocking
  • In the last year or so, astronomers have spotted a number of such orphan worlds
Mars Base

New Rogue Planet Found, Closest to our Solar System - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...nd-closest-to-our-solar-system

scibyte72 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 14 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • its comparative proximity, along with the absence of a bright star very close to it, has allowed the team to study its atmosphere in great detail
  • CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9 (CFBDSIR2149 for short
  • alling the object a rogue planet candidate for now, as they want to study it further to confirm its free-floating status
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • This is the first isolated planetary mass object ever identified in a moving group
  • Looking for planets around their stars is akin to studying a firefly sitting one centimetre away from a distant, powerful car headlight
  • If CFBDSIR2149 is not associated with the AB Doradus Moving Group, the astronomers say it is trickier to be sure of its nature and properties, and it may instead be characterized as a small brown dwarf
Mars Base

LHC Experiment Yields No Insight into Post-Higgs Physics | Observations, Scientific Ame... - 0 views

blogs.scientificamerican.com/...nsight-into-post-higgs-physics

scibyte72 HiggsBoson

shared by Mars Base on 14 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • the Standard Model has survived another test
  • the new data limit the possibilities for many hypothesized extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, including the concept of supersymmetry
  • observed a new kind of particle behavior
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • supersymmetry—the proposal that every elementary particle has a heavier, as-yet-unseen cousin
  • The LHC has yet to find any evidence for supersymmetric particles of any kind
  • Supersymmetry is not ruled out by our measurement, but it is strongly constrained
  • only certain flavors of supersymmetry jibe with the new data
  • Failure to find one variant of a theory is not evidence against other variants,”
  • If you’re looking for your lost keys, failing to find them in the kitchen, living room and bedroom is not evidence against their being somewhere else in the house
  • ry rare decay of a strange beauty particle
  • into two particles called muons. (A muon is a charged particle akin to a heavyweight electron
  • The rarity of the decay makes it difficult to observe
  • the reigning theory of subatomic particles and forces, the Standard Model of particle physics, predicts just how often the effect should occur
  • The LHCb data (pdf) match up well with the Standard Model predictions
Mars Base

Surreal Images of Soyuz Landing in the Dark - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...s-of-soyuz-landing-in-the-dark

scibyte72 iss

shared by Mars Base on 19 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • problem with the Soyuz’ parachute – it deployed about 5 seconds later than planned – caused the crew to land several miles away from the planned landing site, but a Russian recovery team and NASA personnel reached the landing site by helicopter shortly afterward to assist the crew in getting out of the spacecraft, which landed on its side
  • 127 days in space
  • 125 days spent aboard the International Space Station
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Expedition 34 flight engineers — NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Roman Romanenko — are scheduled to launch from Baikonur Dec. 19
  • for a five-month stay
  • Hadfield will become the first Canadian to command the station when Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin depart in March, marking the start of Expedition 35.
  • no actual footage of the Soyuz touching down, since it was dark and the spacecraft landed well away from the planned landing spot.
Mars Base

Astronauts Could Survive Mars Radiation, Curiosity Rover Finds | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/osity-astronaut-radiation.html

scibyte72 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 21 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Radiation levels at the Martian surface appear to be roughly similar to those experienced by astronauts in low-Earth orbit
  • add more support
  • that astronauts can indeed function on the Red Planet for limited stretches of time.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • findings demonstrate that Mars' atmosphere, though just 1 percent as thick as that of Earth, does provide a significant amount of shielding
  • lacks a magnetic field, which gives our planet another layer of protection.)
  • Radiation at the Martian surface is about half as high as the levels Curiosity experienced during its nine-month cruise through deep space
  • findings are preliminary, as Curiosity is just three months into a planned two-year prime mission
  • team have not yet put hard numbers on the Martian radiation levels
  • hoping to release that at the
  • American Geophysical Union's huge conference in San Francisco
  • from Dec. 3-7. "
  • One key to understanding the big picture will be documenting the effects of big solar storms, which can blast huge clouds of charged particles into space
  • Curiosity flew through one such cloud on its way to Mars but has yet to experience one on the surface
Mars Base

DARPA Wants Amateur Help Tracking Space Junk | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/k-darpa-amateur-astronomy.html

scibyte72 Darpa

shared by Mars Base on 21 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • The U.S. military is launching a far-out neighborhood watch. But instead of warding off burglars, these  amateur watchdogs are tracking orbital debris and possible satellite collisions in Earth orbit.
  • The sky-monitoring project, called SpaceView, is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program that enrolls the talents of amateur astronomers
  • SpaceView should provide more diverse data from different geographic locations
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • SpaceView is envisioned as a long-term partnership. This could potentially include time-sharing on telescopes, upgraded hardware at the astronomer’s site or financial compensation
  • SpaceView hopes to engage amateur astronomers by purchasing remote access to an already in-use telescope or by providing a telescope to selected astronomers
  • Telescopes used for astrophotography, asteroid hunting or simply high-quality astronomy are well suited for SpaceView’s needs
  • this new program provides the means to upgrade a skywatcher’s site to a state-of-the-art fully automated obser
  • in late 2013, the process will start to select the first dozen members of the project
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover Preparing for Thanksgiving Activities - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte72 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 21 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • drove for the first time after spending several weeks in soil-scooping activities at one location
  • On Friday, Nov. 16, the rover drove 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) to get within arm's reach of a rock called "Rocknest 3."
  • touched that rock with the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on its arm, and took two 10-minute APXS readings of data about the chemical elements in the rock
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Then Curiosity stowed its arm and drove 83 feet (25.3 meters) eastward toward a target called "Point Lake
  • this is
  • first 'touch-and-go' on the same day
  • good sign that the rover team is getting comfortable with more complex operational planning
  • During a Thanksgiving break, the team will use Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) from Point Lake to examine possible routes and targets to the east
  • priority is to choose a rock for the first use of the rover's hammering drill, which will collect samples of powder from rock interiors
  • the sample-handling mechanism on the rover's arm is still holding some soil from the fifth and final scoop collected at Rocknest
  • so it can be available for analysis by instruments within the rover if scientists choose that option in coming days.
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